being found to sink in water. “We have no doubt that the condition is primarily an affection of the bronchi and bronchioles, and not of the alveoli, though the alveoli may be affected later if the patient survives long enough. In a typical post-mortem examination it would be difficult, or almost impossible, to define the actual cause of death unless one knew the clinical history.” Abrahams and his collaborators describe in detail eight consecutive cases. A study of the type of onset may be of help in determining the character of the disease. The first patient had been subject to bronchitis for years. He had been ill with cough and some pyrexia for five days previous to his admission. There is no further description of his admission symptoms. Case two was admitted on March 17th, having taken ill the previous day with shivering, cold and pain in the chest. The temperature was 104°, the pulse-rate 118, and the respirations were 44. The patient was very restless and had much dyspnoea but was not cyanosed. The third patient had taken ill three days previous to admission with symptoms of cold in the head and a sore throat. He complained of headache and dry cough without expectoration, shortness of breath, and a pain behind the sternum. Case four was admitted with a history of having been out of sorts with a cold and bronchial cough for ten days previously. On admission his temperature was 103°, pulse-rate 112 and respiration-rate 36. He had abundant blood-stained purulent sputum. Case five is the first case that shows a type of onset distinctly resembling that of influenza. The patient had been ill three days with headache, cough and generalized pain previous to his admission. The temperature on admission to the hospital was 103°, pulse-rate 112, respiration-rate 20. There were no abnormal physical signs in the chest on admission. They did appear two days later. Case six related that he had been sleeping under canvas for three nights before coming to the hospital, and that during the first of these nights he was taken ill with a cold which became associated with a cough and increasing shortness of breath. On admission there was slight cyanosis, and dyspnoea was very pronounced. Shortly afterwards he became orthopnoeic, with heliotrope cyanosis. On the slightest exertion, such as turning over in bed, the cyanosis increased markedly, and although the respiration-rate remained under forty when he was at rest, on the least exertion it increased to nearly sixty. The sputum was purulent and abundant, pale yellow, not frothy and not blood-stained, and the day after admission contained Bacillus influenzae, pneumococcus and Micrococcus catarrhalis.